writer of words, singer of songs, creator of art

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We humans have such power potential within us, but so many are unwilling to stand up and take that power. So many would rather allow other people and situations control us, because they fear taking responsibility for themselves. But you can’t run from that responsibility. It exists. It sits heavy, but shirking the load will only eventually crush you under the weight of it all.

I feel sad that so many people still are looking for a literal savior (whether that be a system or an individual) to sweep in and fix things, not realizing that until a great enough section of the population fixes the internal issues, the external ones are never going to change.

Standing in your own power can absolutely be terrifying at first. It means questioning the very foundations of your ego, it means being willing to wield the flame even at the risk of being burned by it. But it is so worthwhile.

I’m kind of rambling here, but I see so much going on. We’re going through some major growing pains as a species, and we can either be creators of our futures or we can get dragged kicking and screaming into a future not of our making and not for our well-being. But so many aren’t willing to do the necessary work. It’s really difficult to witness sometimes.

Farewell,
Oh fickle friend,
Who imparted both knowledge
And filth
And started many a rabbit hole of
Wasted time
Over the years.

The meager mewling of many
Claim that those
Who lament your loss
Regret potentially
Paying more for
Pornography and
The chance to
‘Netflix and chill’.
They want the whining
To stop on this
So they can get back to their
Premium cable and satellite packages
To consume their own
Method of escape.

But without you,
We live with more
Government and
Corporate control
(And how sad
There are those who still deny
These are one and
The same).

You dissent?
It will be monitored
And buried.
You sell small?
You will not be able to
Compete
No matter the product.
You want a variety of sources?
Equality of the classes
On the world wide web?
Do you think that the
Overlords will give
That to their slaves?

There is no government
Of the people.
It is a farce and
Has been for
A very long time.

So farewell,
Net Neutrality.
You’ve been a friend
But it’s time for our
True status
As a people
To come to light.
It didn’t have to be
Like this,
But it seems
We don’t get to keep
Anything nice
These days.

This whole ‘take a knee’ movement and the backlash it’s created has presented some fairly alarming popular viewpoints (one being that professional sports actually matters in the big scheme of things, amirite?), but the one I want to address is this argument put forth that because these athletes are paid a certain amount of money, they should shut up and perform the job that they are paid to do and that’s it. The same argument went around when the Hamilton actors spoke out on Broadway, and I’ve heard the argument made for other performers that have used their fame to push a particular viewpoint or platform that they believed in. Basically, anyone who is in the public eye for a particular talent needs to completely separate themselves from their persona, whatever that may be.

Thinking about this, I think it’s because so many of the common folk either deliberately or instinctively do this at their place of employment, and when they finally sit down to watch the ol’ game or listen to music or attend the theater, they want 1) to just escape and not be forced to think and 2) to not allow anyone else privileges of speaking their mind when they themselves are unable to do so at the risk of being fired. If they are good little cogs in the machine, so should the entertainment class.

But this is so wrong. You should have principles that matter more to you than your job, that if someone wanted to you be immoral or to turn a blind eye, you would not be willing to do so for the sake of a paycheck. But we do because we fear – we fear consequences, we fear poverty, we fear the machine we support breaking down even knowing that eventually this machine will consume us. And then when other people don’t allow their fear to hold them back, that makes us uncomfortable, so we try to shout them down. And thus we place our own chains of servitude around our own necks, and we try to pretend those chains don’t exist, and we try to trap those who would escape. It’s really sad.

So, if you find yourself being uncomfortable reading this, really ask yourself what your principles are. If you aren’t willing to defend them, you need to find some better ones probably. We have so much amazing potential as a species if we just let the fear and pettiness go.

I was inspired a few weeks ago by a podcast that had someone elucidating the rights spelled out in the PA State Constitution, which has inspired me to slowly work my way through the NYS one. Because while I’ve read the US constitution in government class, I’ve never looked at the states before, and I have the feeling that those may be more important in days to come.

The history of the NYS constitution is interesting. It’s been amended and even re-written a couple of times. And a vote is coming up this year on whether to call another constitutional convention.

I’ve finished Section 1, and I have several tidbits I want to bring up and discuss, and I think I’m going to use Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook to do it because I really don’t use those platforms aside from sharing my blog links when I update. I’ll go in order, but I’ll pull one positive one out for today.

[Freedom of speech and press; criminal prosecutions for libel] §8. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right;

NYS constitution Section 1, Article 8

Bam! Freedom of speech protected but you are also FULLY responsible for what issues out of your brain. More people need to understand this, at every level of society. Maybe especially the politicians.

Now I really would prefer we live in a truly self-governed society and that humanity was evolved enough to be able to live in this way, but until that happens, it’s important to know what we’re working with. There is already some verbiage in the first section that made me raise my eyebrows a bit.

Do you know what your state constitutions or even local community charters look like? Do you know what rights of yours may be being infringed upon either legally or illegally? Do you care?

I came across this quote recently from the author David Foster Wallace that I thought was interesting, because it’s the exact opposite of what most people think of when they imagine freedom.

The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.

The truth is I have found more internal freedom than I ever thought possible through having my kids. I’ve grown so much in making space that includes family and deep soul connections in my life. I’ve lost fear. Which is the biggest freedom there is. So even though I can’t go out partying if I get the urge, even though I can’t blow my paycheck on concert tickets and new clothes, even though I frequently put another person’s needs before my own needs and almost always put someone else’s needs before my wants, I am free or on my way to being free in the ways that truly matter. Sometimes, though, I very badly need the reminder, and so this quote hit home.

What are your thoughts on freedom?

Also, the title of the blog post comes from the Janis Joplin song “Me and Bobby McGee” which I’ve always loved singing along to.

There is the shocking footage currently circulating of the doctor that was dragged from a United Airlines flight due to overbooking. You can see the New York Times article here. And people filmed it, people verbally protested the man being dragged, but not one person moved to intervene. And following the incident, everyone, including the doctor, got back on the flight. This boggles my mind, because I would not go anywhere with that particular crew given that they clearly showed what they truly think of the passengers.

For me, I immediately imagined myself in that situation, or being at home and watching my neighbors be violently dragged away by “the authorities” for no reason whatsoever. And I honestly don’t know. One person against several are not decent odds. But an entire plane-full? Why didn’t they collectively demand a different crew, demand their money, demand for lawyers to be brought to the airport? It didn’t have to be a violent uprising, but some kind of uprising would be more respectful. We’ve been treated like livestock by the plane industry for years, but this really surprised me. Yet another sign of how complacent we’ve all become.

So here we stand, on the brink of yet another unjust war fought over oil on a foreign field that we helped set the stage for, that the powers that be have been manipulating and trying to accomplish for years. And we may loudly protest what will come, but will any of us actually try to stop them? Will we stop giving our power over? I don’t know.

I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but I am recommending this new blog – Think Horizontal. The author has written some very thought-provoking articles, and I feel like they have coalesced a lot of the same wisdom that I have sporadically interspersed through my meandering blog here with a much more focused intent. I wanted to respond to all of the posts so far but my brain was mush last night as I read them so I just allowed the words to circulate in my head.

True freedom. What does it really mean? And are you prepared to do the work and the thinking necessary to achieve it? And then to teach others how to do the same?

What have we done to Fellowship?
Where’s the love for our fellow man?
The insular lives we now lead
Means that we don’t do all we can
No more living the Golden Rule
Each for theirself, so weak, so small!
No help for your neighbors, nor hope!
It’s one for one, not one for all.

Can we e’er find Equality?
So elusive, it seems to hide.
It’s us verses them ev’ry day.
To walk this path, always deride.
Rather judge a person theirself
By thoughts, actions, and their deeds.
Instead of what we still look at:
Gender, race, sexuality, and creed.

Whence has flown great Intelligence?
Where have our brilliant minds all gone?
No more knowledge for its own sake,
The focus is on rich gains alone.
The latest big consumer toy
Or vanity pills down our throats
Learning reviled, hated, in vain.
Party lines are our only quotes.

How can we now achieve Justice?
That lovely and resilient song?
Impartial code for all to see.
Two rights can never make a wrong.
No more destruction or violence.
Each working to remove that stain.
Natural rights for ev’ryone.
The end of strife and futile pain.

Who knows how to speak out the Truth?
Unbiased and clear as a bell.
And could we even recognize?
We may not know and dare not tell.
It still is there for us to hear.
All it takes is for us to start.
The clarion sound can ring out loud
If we carry it in the heart.

Who now remembers Liberty?
To get it, will you make a stand?
Rights and responsibility,
Alway together, hand in hand.
Never yet in our history
Have we seen this, but let’s begin.
To grow beyond our current fate,
Search the mirror, dive deep within.

We each come into this world pre-programmed a certain way, and like every piece of technology these days, there are settings and preferences that need tweaking and sometimes entire programs need to be deleted. And while our brains aren’t exactly parallel to computers, there are definitely similarities. The question you should be asking yourself is “who is doing the programming in my life?”. Because the truth is we humans are guided and manipulated in both subtle and overt ways on a daily basis – through our friends and family and our enemies, through advertising, through our education, through media consumption of all kinds, through the groups we belong to and give our time to. And the bigger truth is that we don’t have to give other people the reigns. You can program yourself, write your own code and delete the code of others, create yourself anew into the kind of human you want and need to be.

It may sound a little counter-intuitive to my message of creativity to think of yourself as a machine, but it’s a helpful visualization exercise for really taking stock of who you are and the materials you have to work with. One of the things I say a lot is that if you find it difficult to be honest with anyone else, at least be honest with yourself, and this is a very good way of doing so.

So what are my recommended steps for programming yourself?

Acknowledge the fact that you have been programmed. This is very important. Then start to notice the subtle and not-so-subtle tugs at you on both a conscious and unconscious level. You can’t lose the unwanted programming unless you can find where it is.

Decide what your programming switch is going to be for yourself and stick with repeating the message. Don’t try overhauling everything at once, but pick one thing at a time. It can be something simple like removing an unwanted food item from your diet or choosing to stand up for yourself if you think you’re too meek or setting your inner alarm clock to actually wake you up early enough to write, or tackling bigger issues like looking at yourself in the mirror and loving the body quirks you used to hate (because body image issues are one of the biggest ways we’re manipulated) or taking more control over your own destiny.

Realize that you may feel tugged in two separate directions for a while until your current programming overrides your years (decades?) of previous programming. And realize it’s a constant battle to fight the outside influences. Odd bits of programming may jam their way in, like spyware. So be vigilant about scanning yourself internally every once in a while.

Programming yourself, being your own coder, isn’t about making yourself over into something new. It’s about living up to the potential that exists within and has always been there. It may feel daunting, but it is entirely worthwhile. It is the path to individual freedom.